August 18, 2000
Of hope and optimism - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Knowing me would yield the impression that I am a terribly cynical person. Truth be told, I am not. I am a person that takes life with a grain of salt, but with an even larger grain of hope.
Life - if we are to believe Roberto Bengini - is beautiful. But the reality of life is that of a society disenchanted, cynical and abrasive. We are rarely in unison or anything remotely united. And if we find common interest in something like a reality-TV show like Survivor or Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, no faster than a fast-finger question, are the nay-sayers and doom and gloomers ripping apart our latest fascination. Where’s the beauty in that?
We in Canada are an apathetic bunch. Need it be politics, sports or the arts - Canadians could give a damn and that’s a damned shame.
President John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address in 1960 vowed to the American people that by decade’s end they’d send a man to the moon and return him safely to the Earth. They managed to do just that by decade’s end. The reason I bring this up is because it reminded me of what Tom Hanks said two years ago at the Emmy’s.
Fascinated by the topic of America’s space program, following the making of Apollo 13, Hanks, along with Brian Grazer and Ronnie Howard embarked on making a 13-part miniseries for HBO entitled, From The Earth To The Moon. Upon winning the Emmy for that production, Hanks noted to the audience that the determination and pride of the American people, particularly the people of Apollo, who participated in sending man to the moon, was determination and chutzpah that America could learn from today.
That much hope invested in those years, made that technological possibility possible. And it is that hope on which Mr. Hanks noted that, if prevalent today, would be the cure of disease and the surmounting of insurmountable odds. Noble thought.
It is true that the entire space program could be put to better use, such as poverty and social ills of the sort. But the gist of today’s diatribe is to note that with hope and optimism, such as the people of Apollo endeavoured themselves to - anything is possible.
In this space a while back I asked myself if world peace was in fact, achievable. I bluntly replied back (to myself, mind you) that it would not be possible, as human nature has displayed otherwise. Do I still hold that view, I ask myself again?
Yeah. People aren’t programmed to being so intellectual or possessing the slightest amount of common sense. Wars will still be fought, and frankly for obscene and useless reasons. Why then do we sit for it? Simply said, we just do. When humanity has been existent as far as we can remember, the proof is in the pudding - apathy and discontent erode our consciousness and we take what we get.
I am still very hopeful that one day, perhaps far beyond the confines of my lifetime, human beings will be different. I read the papers everyday and while there are discussions of aggression displayed from Kosovo to Kenya, Israel to Ireland and everywhere beyond and in-between, it’s hard to not note we have serious problems.
Perhaps, if the world can be like the people of Apollo or learn to accept that people like the intense human psychology of a Millionaire or Survivor, the world would be a better place. I can only hope.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .